Focus (Warriors 141, Clippers 113)

The Golden State Warriors’ championship hangover reached (hopefully) its nadir with a soul-sucking loss to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. Either fortunately or unfortunately for the Dubs, depending on your perspective, their time to process the loss was minimized with a matchup against the new-look, Western-Conference-leading LA Clippers on Monday night. A pessimist would say that playing the team in first place in your conference on the back end of a back-to-back, coming off a terrible loss, probably isn’t ideal. An optimist, on the other hand, would point to the matchup (against the hated Clippers) and the quick turnaround (no time to agonize over the collapse) and say “no big deal.” The optimist would end up being proven right, as the Warriors, despite occasional bouts of turnover disease and lack of focus, trounced the Clippers 141-113.

The critical difference for the Warriors as compared to Sunday night? They didn’t shoot themselves in the foot by chucking the ball into the stands (only 12 turnovers, with 3 of them offensive fouls on Zaza Pachulia). They found the range on their long-distance shooting (14 of 29 from distance), but more importantly, they didn’t settle for contested or even decent looks from 3, instead opting to work the ball around to find great shots. They smashed the Clippers on the glass and in the paint, outrebounding the vaunted Clippers’ front line by 11 and garnering a massive 64-40 edge on points in the paint. They finally attempted more field goals than an opponent, finishing with 89 shots to the Clippers’ 86; for comparison, in the seven games prior to this one, the Warriors were outshot by an average of 9 shots (!!) a game. Their efforts on defense, both individual and team, featured more zest and energy, even if the results were a little mixed. And they got big games from both their stars and their bench.

The brilliance of Stephen Curry needs no elucidation, especially on this blog, where many of the denizens get to witness his exploits 98+ times a year. Suffice it to say, on nights like this, when he is feeling it, the entire building sucks in its breath every time he touches the ball. Steph played his best game of the season thus far, going on one of his patented flurries in the third quarter and earning MVP chants from the Warriors fans down in LA. He ably defanged Pat “Pit (Bull)” Beverley, fighting through tons of contact and playing some physical defense of his own. In 30 minutes of play, Curry finished with 31 points (on 9-14 shooting, with 7-11 makes from behind the arc), 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, and a block; per +/-, he was +23 on the night. When Curry is on, the Warriors almost have no recourse but to win. The equation really can be that simple.

The other engine of the Warriors is Draymond Green, who has had, shall we say, an interesting start to the season. Few things are as certain in life as Draymond Green bringing his A game to a matchup with the Clippers, particularly Blake Griffin; Draymond certainly didn’t disappoint, turning Point Blake into a pincushion and forcing him to dribble around aimlessly, a fact which Bob Fitzgerald and Jim Barnett hammered home repeatedly with comparisons to the point guard Blake was ostensibly supposed to replace (CP3). Draymond, who has struggled with his three-point shot this season, basically pulled off his best impersonation of a freight train in the first half, putting his head down and bulling his way to the hoop for buckets, dump-off passes, and fouls. While there were a few head-scratching turnovers (Kevin Durant was also guilty of this sin), Draymond was lethal in his usual stat-stuffing fashion, finishing with 16 points (including a made 3!), 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, and a block.

The Warriors were also bolstered by their bench, which contributed in numerous ways. JaVale McGee and Jordan Bell in particular stood out for their contributions. McGee was the recipient of a number of ludicrous alley-oop feeds, and his energy and activity were key in shaking the Warriors out of an ominous third quarter rut. Jordan Bell showed all the skills we’ve already seen (the defensive prowess, the knack for getting into position for putback slams, the passing) and even flashed a ten-foot jumper; he’s now shooting a wholly unsustainable (I think) 85.7% from the field this season and continues to play beyond his years. Against an opponent that exploited Zaza Pachulia, with Blake getting the better of Zaza on switches and Zaza racking up moving screen violations faster than an actual moving screen door, McGee, Bell, and David West (also a stabilizing presence) picked up the slack. And Shaun Livingston has to be mentioned for all the little things he did – fight for rebounds, run the break effectively, pick his spots and punish guys on the block – as well as the statistical hilarity that is his +26 night in just 14 minutes of play.

At the core of the Warriors’ victory was a philosophy that is drilled into computer science students when they are first given the flexibility to design a system: keep it simple, stupid. It is tantalizingly easy to overengineer X when a simpler Y would suffice; similarly, the Warriors have a longstanding tradition of attempting the outlandish when the simple is available. Think of all the one-handed cross-court heaves, the forced entry passes or alley-oop lobs to players that are in no way open, the dribbling exhibitions that end in disaster, the behind-the-back passes (shudder)…the list is seemingly endless. The best thing that can be said about the Dubs victory was that it was at times ruthlessly effective. As lovers of basketball, we tend to prioritize this notion of basketball aesthetic; when a team is as good and as talented as the Warriors are, somehow it isn’t enough to just win, a team must win beautifully. That quest for the “perfect play” manifests itself in the Warriors’ play, when they try to just do too much. Against the Clippers, the Warriors sought out mismatches when they presented themselves, fed the hot hand, didn’t get too cute, and played, on the aggregate, solid team basketball. With a matchup against the San Antonio Spurs looming on Thursday, the Warriors picked a good time to finally play a mostly complete game. That it came against one of their least favorite teams was an added bonus.

His play would certainly warrant a trip to the G-league, were he a younger player. I just think they wouldn’t do that, because it would probably result in negative repercussions.

SurfCity

Yes, he brings that kind of excitement. You want to keep your eyes on him and see what he does next. Sort of like JaVale. It’s great to have players like that.

SurfCity

You know in a strange way, he just might be, lol.

Joe Nava

Probably because they’re good people. It’s good fiscal policy to force 2nd rounders to sign those kinds of contracts, but it’s also somewhat ethically wrong.

SurfCity

Thanks for the link. I’m not sure why the Warriors didn’t choose that sort of hard-line approach. I remember reading an article in 2016 when the money was flooding into the teams with the high cap. At that time, it was saying that due to that, some 2nd rounders were making more than 1st rounder, who were capped out. So they had some leverage. But my guess is that’s not as true anymore, with the bottom falling out of the market.

I’m gonna think out loud here. What would be best is to have an understanding with the agent before a selection is made where you say, “this is what we’re paying, at these terms, are you interested?” and then don’t draft them if they balk. The thing is, there might not have been much time for that this time since it wasn’t the Warriors own pick and they were spending the precious minutes negotiating with Chicago.

Cubans hardball tactics might normally be fine if you’re willing to let the pick go overseas if he won’t sign for the extended years, and cheap. But I’m not sure the Warriors had that kind of leverage since it’s doubtful they would let a pick they just paid $3.5 M to acquire walk like that.

Joe Nava

Yes, those are all good points, especially the last one. Once you pay $3.5M to acquire the draft pick to draft
Bell, are you going to be able to convince him and his agent that you’re willing to let him go play overseas? Not likely.

Players drafted in the second round also have another option. They can choose to sign a one-year contract at the minimum rookie scale with no guaranteed money at all (not even in their first year) and no team option in the second year. So players drafted in the second round who believe in themselves can also use the threat of that option to force NBA teams who want to force them to accept many team option years to back off.

KJ McDaniels used that option and it paid off for him. See article below:

excerpt:
Houston Rockets wing K.J. McDaniels took an unusual risk on his rookie contract last year, and now he’s reaping the rewards for it.

McDaniels, the Philadelphia 76ers’ 32nd pick in the draft in 2014, went against the grain and signed a one-year, non-guaranteed rookie contract. Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported at the time that he and his agent rejected the usual four-year deal (with the first two years guaranteed and the second two years non-guaranteed) the 76ers typically offer rookies.

Thamks for the update. I’ve never seen her before until last night and she was so beautiful and associated with the Warriors, I had to look her up and just found out she and KD had /.have a thing.

Zume

Thank you Thurston.

afrohemian

Well, this IS America… a place where even Trump can attract women and certainly not for his looks or personality…

jsl165

That’s For Gold-Onwode. She’s done local color for the Dubs for three years; she’s now national — so you’ll be seeing her back East.

Absolutely terrufic! And smart and beautiful to boot. Played at Stanford.

Champs15

Tony Parker is playing in G League, I think. Can’t remember names quickly but players are doing more often now.

SurfCity

Oh, good point. Is that on a rehab? I guess they could try it, but they’d be sending him down for cause instead of injury. Baseball is famous for finding injuries, putting someone on the DL and then having him play in the minors for “rehab.” Maybe if they could pull that off!